Dulle Griet (Mad Meg)

1640s
Oil on oak panel, 48 x 69 cm
Private collection

Dulle Griet, the personification of the sin of avarice in Netherlandish folklore, is here represented as a woman brandishing a sword and carrying a basket of loot. Her greed is so great she is not afraid to storm hell itself to get her spoils, fighting off demons and the three-headed monster Cerberus who guards the Gates of Hell.

This painting is influenced by Cornelis Saftleven's animal diableries painted in the early 1630s.